Editors’ Note: This is the transcript version of the podcast. Please note that due to time and audio constraints, transcription may not be perfect. We encourage you to listen to the podcast, embedded below if you need any clarification. We hope you enjoy!
This week we are breaking down behind the scenes look at when Canada legalized Cannabis and the forward look to global trade negotiations.
We discuss:
- How Canadians legalization violated international treaties
- Why Consumption Lounges could be a massive opportunity
- How future global regulations might not include the United States
About Nathan Mison:
Nathan Mison is a Founding Partner of Diplomat Consulting. As the former Vice President of Government and Stakeholder Relations at Fire & Flower, he was one of the first employees for the company, helping guide it through legalization and into its place as Canada’s largest independent cannabis retail company. Nathan is the co-chair of the National Cannabis Working Group for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a board member of the Alberta Cannabis Council. founding member of NorthCanvas, an ancillary cannabis incubator, a member of the Alberta Cannabis Stakeholder Group and a founding member of the Alberta Cannabis Retailers Association. He has a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Alberta and has volunteered his time as the Past President of the Valley Zoo Development Society and is the co-founder of Politics on Tap.
This show is presented to by 8th Revolution:
At Eighth Revolution (8th Rev) we provide services from capital to cannabinoid and everything in between in regard to the hemp & cannabis industry. Our forward-thinking team can diagnose, analyze & optimize every detailed nuance of your company to keep your business safe, smart, and profitable. Our flexibility and experience combined with ongoing research create unique insights into how to best grow your market share. Contact us directly at [email protected]
Bryan Fields: @bryanfields24
Kellan Finney: @Kellan_Finney
[00:00:00]Nathan Mison: What’s
[00:00:02]Bryan Fields: up guys. Welcome back to the episode of the dime I’m Brian Fields. And with me as always is Kellen Finney. And this week we’ve got a very special guest Nathan Meissen, president and founder of diplomat consulting and co-chair of the national cannabis working group for Canadian chamber of commerce.
[00:00:18] Nathan, thanks for taking the time.
[00:00:20]Nathan Mison: How are you doing today? I’m pretty great. And life is pretty good. Lots of fun things going on in the world. So it’s a lots of time and lots of change in the cannabis sector and beyond. So going to be a part of it, excited, dive into a bunch
[00:00:32]Bryan Fields: of topics. Kellen, how are you doing?
[00:00:34]Nathan Mison: I’m doing well.
[00:00:35]Kellan Finney: It was a lot of snow on the ground out here in Colorado, and I’m really excited to talk internet.
[00:00:40]Bryan Fields: Yeah, I guess for the record, Nathan, you’re located north of the border. So I don’t know if that goes for either the east or the west Kellen. Do you have a. I think he’s in
[00:00:48]Kellan Finney: Toronto, it’s east, if he’s in Vancouver, it’s west,
[00:00:51]Nathan Mison: that’s right. And the rest of the country doesn’t matter in Canada. So don’t worry. It’s just all blank space. Then the rest of Canada is the only two places that [00:01:00] matter. We can also put Montreal in there as well. So yeah. They’re welcome
[00:01:04]Kellan Finney: to have an east coast versus west
[00:01:06]Nathan Mison: coast, a cold
[00:01:08]Kellan Finney: thing
[00:01:08]Nathan Mison: going on.
[00:01:09] No, it’s funny because Canadians where we would have to make everything a little bit more difficult. It’s central Canada, which we’re Ontario and Western Canada. Cause the east Canada is that Atlantic. So we even add another layer. So we make it more boring in true Canadian fashion while apologizing for it.
[00:01:29] So I’m sorry that I brought that to the table.
[00:01:32]Bryan Fields: Amazing. So Nathan Farr listeners can give a little background about you and how you got into the Canada.
[00:01:37]Nathan Mison: Yeah, so thanks very much. It’s been an exciting ride having a great opportunity to help in the cannabis space from legacy. So legacy cannabis is defined in Canada.
[00:01:47] So Vancouver, Canada had a very unique circumstance. We were moving towards legalization in Canada. But what Vancouver did was actually approved municipal retail. For cannabis prior to actual [00:02:00] legalization. So you had a groundswell of stores that actually were popping up that were selling cannabis that was not regulated federally and that is classified as legacy Canada or cannabis.
[00:02:10] So I was helping some of the legacy cannabis retailers come into the legal sector, which as you can imagine, was an incredible transition and difficult to do because when you’re used to no taxation and knew no rules, except at a municipal level, coming into a regulatory environment that a municipal provincial and federal level that is as difficult as opening a nuclear power plant was a little bit hard for those retailers to decide that they wanted to carry it through.
[00:02:35] But it really spurred the opportunity of what was coming in Canada. And because we were the first G seven and the first , I always viewed this as an opportunity. If Canada didn’t screw it up is that this could be our internet because it was such an economic opportunity that was manifesting here first, where the world would look at us first and then spread it out.
[00:02:58] And we’ve seen that the case, like when we [00:03:00] started legalization in 20 17, 2 countries in the world, we’re talking federal legalization, Uruguay in Canada. Now 59 nations around the world are going through legalization. And the interesting thing from a Canadian was that we had to build our own domestic supply chain.
[00:03:15] So there’s lots of interesting opportunities for Canadian expertise to come abroad. And I wanted to be a part of that because I thought there was some really interesting ways for us to help re write rules at a muni at a city. Providence state level and at a federal level that made sense.
[00:03:30] So I joined with fire and flower. As one of the founders, I was the first employee in Western Canada for them. And I think employee number four overall in, for four years, they have gone from, literally selling ether. Like this is coming. You have to believe it’s coming to 101 stores across Canada, four stores in the United States.
[00:03:50] And they’re in, are now partnered with circle. K. So the 16,000 stores worldwide that circle K has potentially in the future could have fire and flower. So being a part of a company that went [00:04:00] through that kind of growth with that kind of parent that a comma came on board was an incredible opportunity to help write the regulatory framework at the city provincial and federal level.
[00:04:10] And so I was very involved in helping do that running their government relations, regulatory affairs, And communication sides for fire and flower. And they really afforded me the opportunity to help set up a number of the provincial associations as well as the federal association. So that’s you threw it out there.
[00:04:26] Why I became the co-chair of the national cannabis working group of the Canadian chamber of commerce. I was the past chair of the Alberta cannabis council and the Ontario cannabis policy committee. So they really afforded that up. So that opportunity for us to help write the rules, which cannabis retail, or was written on that it’s a spurred some incredible passion in me about what the economic sector and the opportunity that it can be.
[00:04:48] And I don’t know if you guys saw the Deloitte report that was just dropped on Monday out of Canada, we had talked about some pretty fricking big numbers and some pretty exciting opportunities that maybe this is our [00:05:00] internet, if we don’t screw it up. So I think there’s lots of opportunities to represent that, you know at a municipal provincial state and international.
[00:05:09] That doesn’t happen very often. So it’s been a crazy ride and to see the explosion and acceptance of cannabis, pretty exciting.
[00:05:15]Bryan Fields: Yeah. It’s gotta be exciting. And I want to stay with kind of the original framework that you were putting together. Obviously we’ve talked about when you’re leaning on other previous policies like New York who can lean on California and Denver to do the right ways when you were in that room for the first time.
[00:05:30] And you’re saying it’s only you and another country. There’s no other countries you can lean on for framework of her references. So that has to be another layer of complexity and challenges because you’re not only fighting the stigma of the unknown. You don’t have anyone to lean on and say, look, they’ve done it successfully.
[00:05:43] This is what we call.
[00:05:43]Nathan Mison: And big up Uruguay, right? But your way is not Canada. So Canada doing it was going to be the basis of probably what everybody else like since Canada went through the legalization process and just talked about it and went from two countries in the world to 59, it was the first [00:06:00] Commonwealth nation that did it. There’s now 24 Commonwealth nations that are going through cannabis legalization. Right now. They’re probably gonna use common law based on the Commonwealth practice of Canada law to be able to do it. And I think it’s a really good point.
[00:06:14] When you do something domestically, the unintended consequences internationally are so profound. Sometimes that it impacts the follow-up. So just a quick example on that. The federal liberal party led by prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who pushed this initiative forward. This is probably one of the most significant social policy or economic policies.
[00:06:37] When people look back at he’ll be known for, right? This is building a worldwide economy that has built on, but it was fricking hard to do that because you got to push that down through three orders of government, right? Till you get the federal to legalize, then you have to have the province, build the distribution system and the retail environment.
[00:06:55] And then you have to have the cities decide how they’re going to zone it. Can it be close to [00:07:00] daycares, schools, libraries, all of that stuff. But it was, I think one of the really unique things is we were in violation of three international treaties when we actually legalized cannabis Including the controlled substance treaty, which is a little bit of a big deal when it comes to international policy, because that’s how you move drugs across the country are across the world, including pharmaceuticals.
[00:07:24] So China and Russia who had fairly significant negative feelings of cannabis, if they wag their finger at Canada and said that we were in violation, pharmaceutical drugs, could have been to stop being sent to Canada because of our legalization. So what happened is we legalized then the federal government was like, we didn’t legalize, right?
[00:07:45] Like it pretend we didn’t do anything and then get the province and the municipalities to do it all because they didn’t want to piss off the international consequences of what it would mean. And it’s interesting how sometimes how, political sensitivities and cover [00:08:00] our own ass when it comes to big decisions that sometimes politicians make that have huge consequences, both economically and society turn out to be really good things.
[00:08:10] So their decision of the Canadian federal government to lower its eyes actually meant we had to build a domestic supply chain because we were establishing a completely new domestic market for cannabis legalization from production to retail. But everybody forgets about lawyers, accountants, building.
[00:08:29] Who’s going to wrap the windows, who’s going to do security. What are the computers that are going to hold that data system, who is doing point of sales? Who’s doing merchant of financing, all of those other pieces, but what’s really crazy about that is that’s now businesses that Canadians can actually.
[00:08:45] And export to the world because let’s be honest, cultivation on retail is tough to take to the world because you have regulatory environments, advisors, and ancillary businesses. They can go wherever the hell they want. So the economic [00:09:00] opportunity, and now that we’re finally lifting our eyes up and saying, oh yeah, we did legalize.
[00:09:04] Okay. You can pay attention to us again. Is creating some really exciting opportunities for Canadian businesses and Canadians to offer that that opportunity abroad. And that’s a really exciting possibility to create a regulatory framework that looks like. We’re domestic businesses know how to work in internationally and scaling is not something that Canadian businesses are known very well for internationally.
[00:09:27] So it’s a really exciting time where if we, again, don’t screw it up, this could be our internet kind of thing. I have a quick question.
[00:09:34]Kellan Finney: How much of an impact did working at fire and flower have on your ability
[00:09:40]Nathan Mison: to speak
[00:09:42]Kellan Finney: accurately in these conversations when you guys are drafting the regulations and putting these
[00:09:48]Nathan Mison: rules in place?
[00:09:48] So I think it’s a great question because, When you’re building relationship with regulators and politicians, they of course know you’re coming in with a slant, right? Like they know that you’re advocating for a [00:10:00] municipal you a mutually beneficial solution that perhaps gives you a preference over others.
[00:10:07] But if you think about how they’re going to sell it, how it fits in with Arizona, And how it actually benefits all of the sector. There is opportunities to see significant advancement in that and because the sector was so new, and because it was start stop at the beginning of cannabis legalization, like there was nine stores in Alberta and then it was like, whoa, we don’t have enough domestic supply.
[00:10:31] We’re not going to approve any more retails stores for eight or for nine months. To have the supply catch up. Now we’re like, there’s too much supply. And now there’s too much retail stores. So it was interesting because you were telling people like, Hey, this is coming. And they’re like, wow, we don’t believe you.
[00:10:47] No. There’s not enough supply. There’s 9 million square foot facilities that have been built. There’s an extra 1.2 billion grams in Canada of cannabis right [00:11:00] now that cannot be stolen because our domestic market can’t handle it 1.2 billion cramps. It’s a really good point.
[00:11:06] You have to advocate for the middle, show them that you understand their points of view and give them speaking points that is a win for them and a willing for your company and the sector you’re looking to establish. And I think, the fact that fire and flower was so generous in letting me and financial contribution and setting up a lot of the associations that represented the cannabis sector at a provincial and national level.
[00:11:33] It allowed us to have a diverse voice while still having intrinsic ties to one player. And I think that was been very beneficial as well. Regulators often just want a solution. And if you’re willing to put in the work to help them get there, they’re willing to listen. Even though that they know that there might be a little bit of biases in there,
[00:11:55]Bryan Fields: I want to stay on that topic because it’s so interesting. And I never really thought about like the international, pure [00:12:00] pressure that would have been sued if they turned and started wagging their finger. So is that a consideration before that’s legalized? Do you think that’s like a post, oh, I didn’t realize that this was going to be received so negatively.
[00:12:11]Nathan Mison: Oh no, that’s a great question. I, it’s interesting in the fact that it’s a great question. So there’s two different elements in most policy development, right? Politicians and bureau. So we all know that the bureaucracy might’ve been running around in circles, but their hand above their heads screaming, like they were on fire, that we were in violation to that stuff.
[00:12:32] And the political class could be like, we made a promise, let’s get it over the line. Cause we’re pandering the 18 to 35 year olds and we’re going to make this happen, hell or high water. And the guys who are running around in circles that are screaming, they can take care of the international consequences because I don’t even know if I’ll be here in the future.
[00:12:48] I think you have to find that happy balance between the two. There was some movement in other jurisdictions to already see cannabis move. Australia was talking about it and New Zealand was talking about it. Germany was talking [00:13:00] about it. South Africa was talking about it.
[00:13:02] Mexico was talking about it. So I think that’s a really, that was very beneficial. And again, I think it’s also quickly just important in the Canadian context to understand cannabis legalization came through the judicial. It was patients suing for access to better medicinal cannabis. And because we have common law under the Commonwealth, that is judicial precedent in all Commonwealth nations.
[00:13:26] So when the south Africans legalized cannabis through their Supreme court ruling, it was based on the Canadian Supreme court case. So they knew that the ball could have been rolling at that point. So I think it was like, oh shit, this could be a consequence. The ball’s already out of the thing.
[00:13:46] We made a promise. Let’s go get those 18 to 35 year olds. And hopefully the bureaucrats can steer us out of the darkness if we get in too much trouble. Yeah.
[00:13:54]Bryan Fields: So that’s such a complicated puzzle pieces of such situations and [00:14:00] personalities and political understandings that I’ll never even be able to probably come from.
[00:14:04]Nathan Mison: And the thing is just as a quick aside on that is the world health organizations in the United nations in 2020, I’m sorry. Late 2019 did amend the controlled substance treaty to actually exempt CBD and ad declassify, classify cannabis from a class, a felony, right? Or as a class, a inhibitor.
[00:14:27] The also had been advocating at some of the organizations with the treaties that specifically if the Russians and the Chinese got really mad at us, there was movement to change some of that international treaties. And I’m sure that went into the calculus behind the scenes with bureaucrats who were running around and screaming that firefighter world’s on fire.
[00:14:47] So it was intellect to your point. It’s a complicated web, and it’s a bold statement for a country to go first in that environment and then have everybody chasing it. It’s it’s [00:15:00] interesting because the rules are so strict in Canada because it was easier to sell strict rules that you could roll back.
[00:15:08] And that’s one of the environments that we now find ourselves in.
[00:15:12]Bryan Fields: Yeah. It’s a lot easier to loosen the restrictions than it is to be like, put them on first and then be like whoa. We got to tighten this up because you’ve got to walk back that experience and change the customer perception as well as the business operations.
[00:15:23] So staying, yeah. One
[00:15:25]Nathan Mison: was a great example of that Colorado with the animals, right? Like the fact that there was no edible cap at the beginning, people were buying a thousand milligram cakes and then all of a sudden it’s oh my God, we shouldn’t give a thousand milligrams. It was like, we have to lower that a political rule that, and a bureaucratic rule is always give easier to give to the citizenry, then take something away.
[00:15:45] So make it as strict as possible where you can lose it in time. And I think they use some of the Colorado example specifically in that circumstance on our Caltech cannabis policy,
[00:15:54]Kellan Finney: In Florida definitely did where they wouldn’t didn’t even allow you to buy canvas flower to smoke. Which [00:16:00] is the industry,
[00:16:00]Nathan Mison: It’s wild.
[00:16:03]Bryan Fields: Do you think there was an economic influence or an economic kind of major point behind it is saying, Hey, if we do go first, we can capture like a bigger opportunity to position the businesses for potential exposure. If and when the other countries follow suit or you think it was Hey, we think this is a good idea.
[00:16:18] We should do it because it can help the citizens.
[00:16:21]Nathan Mison: I think that’s a great question. And the answer is categorically. No, they did not care about the economics, because again, this was a health Canada led thing because of a Supreme court ruling. And that’s been one of the worst things that’s actually happened for the cannabis sector, because when you have to go up against people who believe reefer madness, that you have to go up with people who are trenched in the tropes of the past.
[00:16:47] One of the ways to crack that. Hey, this is generating $43 billion of economic impact and 151,000 direct and indirect jobs in the last three and a half years, and has continued to grow during COVID as perhaps one [00:17:00] of Canada’s greatest COVID economic success stories. But that. An interesting thing, then I think this is a really important thing to keep in mind is there is not one provincial or federal economic mandate at one ministry or ministerial purview for the economics of cannabis, a sector that is now larger than dairy forestry, mining and automotive production has nobody who gives a shit about the jobs that it creates in this country.
[00:17:28] And I think that is one of the fascinating needing lessons that other countries have learned is if you see what Mexico did, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, they’ve all added an economic mandate. And that’s something that Canada has given to the world because we didn’t have to do it. And the politicians realized, Hey, this creates a lot of jobs and a lot of revenue, a lot of government revenue, we should maybe build in the economics into it at the beginning as well.
[00:17:54] So I think that’s a lesson that Canada gave to the look to the world as going first, because we really [00:18:00] screwed that up here.
[00:18:03]Bryan Fields: Let’s talk about one of the challenges of advocating for some of those political stances. I know you, you have your fair share of experiences and probably some stories about maybe some vaping and some of the taxes that go into it.
[00:18:14]Nathan Mison: Yeah. Going into, ministers, board rooms and them telling you that there’s no illegal eight products in the place that you’re advocating for. And you’re like, oh, minister, please tell me more. And then they’re categorically tell you a legal cannabis is not in this jurisdiction. And you perhaps open up a large app that you can order cannabis from illegally and you order vape products for them and to be delivered to that ministerial boardroom and then hit refresh over and over.
[00:18:49] So the minister can literally see the dot, moving closer and closer to be delivering a legal cannabis to his office in a legislative building is pretty [00:19:00] emphatic on your advocacy point. It’s really fun to have those stories because it puts a real world example to the level of ignorance, arrogance and education that the cannabis sector had to provide to people who are so oblivious to actually what.
[00:19:17] The sector is trying to displace and crate too. And I think, that’s a simple example where it was literally somebody telling you like it doesn’t exist. Then it’s we legalized to this place, a sector that had an 80 year headstart that contributes six and a half billion dollars to the economy each year from your own federal stats organization.
[00:19:39] And you’re telling me it doesn’t exist because we’re in this province. Come on. So I think there’s lots of things that, you know, that it seems ridiculous in con in hindsight, but it shows the work that the cannabis sector has had to do to provide even that baseline of education. For the [00:20:00] people who are making the decisions on how the sector actually operates and legislated under that they have zero idea about what the sector is, what it is, how it works, what you’re working towards.
[00:20:11] And that’s probably a lesson that as the state’s pushes forward on legalization or other jurisdiction, the, there has to be some education on the difference between illegal and legal, so that policymakers understand why you’re making a move in that direction and the economic opportunities that came for that because Canada failed in that regard.
[00:20:33] And that’s probably a lesson that we can again, share to the world because it made advocacy much harder. Isn’t that
[00:20:40]Bryan Fields: frightening though? Like the fact that the people who are making the rules have no idea what’s going on. I love going back to the example of governor Ricketts of Nebraska. If you legalize cannabis, it will kill your kids.
[00:20:50] And I just can’t get that out of my head. How in this day and age to see say something like that, unless he’s a hundred percent tunnel visioned in, or someone’s [00:21:00] provided him a talking script and he’s this is what my lobbyist want me to say. This is what I mean.
[00:21:05]Nathan Mison: Oh, my God. Wait. It’s also interesting.
[00:21:09] The changes in attitude when money starts to come involved, when Illinois tax revenue showed that they were making more money off cannabis than they were on alcohol, it was testing out. Many states started to be like, Hey whoa, wait what they, what was that? You were saying more money than alcohol.
[00:21:29] We like more money or, form a police officers who at one time in my own country said that cannabis was the same as murder. And they now own cannabis companies. Like it’s interesting how things can evolve through the process. So what I think is, as we move through normalization and societal acceptance, some of those.
[00:21:48] Statements that are made, that people will look back and realize, oh man, I was really stupid or ignorant saying that hopefully they have enough self-confidence in themselves to realize that was a really stupid thing they said, [00:22:00] because it’s not the same, but it does leave an interesting conversation from a policy point of view.
[00:22:05] And I would imagine that considering who you guys are, that’s an interesting one. I’ve always thought it would be really interesting to do an economic analysis on a cost of government on a cross-comparison between alcohol and cannabis as a new brand. I would love for somebody to fund. I would imagine I’m probably going to get some unique feedback from maybe some of the people in the alcohol and cannabis sector, if you want to do a true cost to society on a neighbor and let’s actually have a foundation of information that we can cross reference against each other to make good policy decisions.
[00:22:37] Because I don’t know about you. I don’t see a lot of people fighting at the end of the night when they’re high over a pack of Doritos that perhaps you might see in with other indie or taking up hospital beds goes over consumption. So I think there’s some really interesting things that as the sector continues to evolve, we can see some good research, good ballsy development.
[00:22:56] The only thing that’s
[00:22:57]Bryan Fields: happening there is those people are falling asleep on the [00:23:00] couch.
[00:23:03]Nathan Mison: Yeah, that’s right. Netflix and chill actually means Netflix and sleep, they still call them. Yes. I also don’t think
[00:23:10]Kellan Finney: that we probably don’t need to conduct the experiment as far as the cost on society, when you compare alcohol to cannabis.
[00:23:17] I think it’s pretty cut and dry personally, as far as, I don’t know anyone that’s ever blacked out on cannabis and made really poor decisions, so
[00:23:26]Nathan Mison: we’ll just leave it there. But it would still be interesting, but so that’s a good, but it’s an interesting point.
[00:23:30] And it comes back to the story about the vape, right? Like vape doesn’t, isn’t illegal in my province. It doesn’t exist. When you’re facing with that level of. Misunderstanding. We sometimes have to show the cost comparison because they understand one side because it has 80 to a hundred years of familiarity and they have no reference to the other side.
[00:23:53] So we have to draw that direct comparison so that there’s an apples to apples conversation so that we can make better [00:24:00] policy from a common level of understanding.
[00:24:03]Kellan Finney: And that understanding has to come from a third party. Unbiased
[00:24:07]Nathan Mison: organization makes sense.
[00:24:09]Bryan Fields: Yes. There’s like bunch of layers of challenges here, right?
[00:24:12] From a political standpoint. And maybe Nathan, you can probably weigh in better than I can. I’m just make some assumptions here is that if you’re a political figure who’s pushing for certain policy and let’s say out big alcohol is one of your biggest fans. They might not want to see cannabis take some of their market share because when I’ve seen some of the estimates for here in New York and some of the potential numbers are just mind blowing to begin, I don’t even know how they’re making those numbers because right.
[00:24:35] There’s adoption for current cannabis consumers, which they don’t know how many people, they don’t know what’s going on in a black market standpoint, but also the users who are now consuming alcohol on a regular basis that might migrate over and capture some of that market share. I don’t know how you can put a number on that.
[00:24:49] And if I’m an alcohol company out, I’m frightened by the concept because the hangovers terrible, right? It’s quote unquote makes you feel bad. You don’t want to get up in the morning and worked out, but from a cannabis [00:25:00] standpoint, it alleviates that burden. So there has to be some fear from alcohol side that like they might lose market share and.
[00:25:07]Nathan Mison: So a couple of things that I think I, I agree with most of the things, but look at the play of alcohol companies into the cannabis sector, constellation with canopy, Molson, with trust Boston brewing with looking to enter into the cannabis space in Canada. There is a natural affiliation to that.
[00:25:26] And I think, we’ve heard some of the decelerated consumptions of beer in United States with a younger population of 18 to 13 or 18 to 35. But that’s a demographic that consumes cannabis at a higher level than other demographics. You can start making unique financial decisions on how to play in both worlds to both demographics, to continue to move it forward.
[00:25:49] And I think you really raised an interesting a point and I, one of the greatest opportunities that the Canadian cannabis market has, but I think a worldwide market abs is the establishment of a cannabis, [00:26:00] tourism and hospitality environment. So the number in Canada is 21.5 to 25% of Canadians consume cannabis based on, based on a number of different numbers.
[00:26:10] So in a country of 39 million people that’s not an insignificant population base, but it’s interesting if you think about it from a policy point of view, people aren’t fighting for the 75 to 79%, of which, by the way, the statistics are the statistics on. Most of that demographic would be interested in trying cannabis, but through ingestibles right, 66% of first-time cannabis users want to have an adjustable experience and that’s not like a combustible, that’s a drink.
[00:26:42] That’s a mocktail that has a nice letter, a distillate. That’s a food based experience. But as a measure dosing that they can have. That and to the conversation that we’re having before about that parallel between alcohol and cannabis, that they can make a direct comp or parallel to, [00:27:00] oh, if I have one shot of something, I feel the effects in eight to 12 minutes.
[00:27:04] Okay. If I have this mock tail with this Iceland, I feel the effects and eight to 12 minutes in the same environment that I can have a drink. That’s when we start to see a greater societal use of cannabis, I think in that regard and considering COVID has completely beat up the tourism and hospitality.
[00:27:25] So I can, I know the statistics in Canada. I unfortunately don’t know it in the states, but I’ll give you one in here. So the Canadian tourism and hospitality contributed $105 billion to the Canadian economy per year, prior to COVID it’s now down to 50 billion, right? A $55 billion. And the crazy thing about that number, and now I’m really policy peaking.
[00:27:47] So I do apologize for it is that is an over-representation of a sector that hires the most underemployed 18 to 20 five-year-olds. So you beat up a sector that is the bridge to get younger [00:28:00] people into the job market as well, by losing more than 48 or sorry, 55% market share. What an interesting opportunity in Canada, we’ll say as an example, to have a differentiated experience when the light bulb gets turned back on and people can start to travel that 29% of worldwide consumers want a cannabis experience when it when they arrive in that jurisdiction, why can’t we fill some of that $55 billion by creating a cannabis experience where 29% of the world travelers come to Canada, where the alcohol companies own some of the cannabis companies that are providing.
[00:28:40] That people can feel the effect with light. They do in alcohol, in an environment at pubs festivals, music, venues, stolen and so forth. So there’s a direct parallel. And I think that’s perhaps one of the most exciting developments that are coming for the cannabis sector. I think it’s really exciting that New York has talked about consumption loans, licenses as [00:29:00] well as Michigan.
[00:29:01] And I think it’s a really interesting opportunity for north America who has three of the biggest nations in it, right? The only three nations in it that are all in different stages of federal legalization to add that as something that they should be perhaps talking about as well. But I think to have a long winded way alcoholism has a law as a way to help steward and advocate for that kind of regulatory change with the relationships politically that they’ve already.
[00:29:30] And both cannabis on to get the cannabis or a sector further along on that adoption. I agree.
[00:29:38]Kellan Finney: I think that cannabis and alcohol need to hold hands and walk off into the sunset together. I know Brian’s shaking his head so excited to hear what he has to say after
[00:29:46]Bryan Fields: this. Yeah. Maybe in the situations where the big alcohol companies partner with the cannabis companies, then sure.
[00:29:53] It’s time. But I think alcohol companies
[00:29:55]Nathan Mison: take
[00:29:56]Kellan Finney: your experience, right? If you’re constellation and you then have the someone [00:30:00] enters, you get a hundred percent conversion rate when someone enters your pump, do you know what I mean? If they’re going to buy a beer or if they’re going to buy a THC drink, versus if you’re only selling the beer and then maybe it’s a, every other alcohol industry should take a, every other alcohol companies should be taking notes right now.
[00:30:16] You know what I mean? All right, go ahead.
[00:30:20]Nathan Mison: So
[00:30:20]Bryan Fields: I agree. I agree with that. That’s totally fine. But what about the alcohol companies don’t have exposure to that? To the cannabis companies? Those were the ones who were like, absolutely not. We need some more time. We need to build our strategy. We need to have more board meetings to discuss the same concept we’ve talked about for probably 10 years.
[00:30:37] And when we make that acquisition, then Nathan it’s time to open up the cannabis. The consumption lodges,
[00:30:44]Nathan Mison: th there are like the bureaucrats that were young are running around in circles with their hands above their head, screaming, fire, and fire before right now. But I think one of the things that’s interesting, and I think this is going to be a very different experience between the Canadian tourism and hospitality [00:31:00] sector and the United States tourism and hospitality sector.
[00:31:03] Canada will not allow cohabitation of India. You will not be able to have cannabis and alcohol in the same jurisdiction. You just won’t buy because there is not because in Canada we legalized medicinal. That then became adult use recreation. This lives at health Canada as the primary regulatory agency federally.
[00:31:28] And there is not peer reviewed research on how the two inebriates work together. We cannot make decisions that will allow those two things to happen together until we do 10 years of research innovation endocannabinoid measurements on how alcohol matches together with CBD, CBN, THCA, all of that stuff, it just won’t happen.
[00:31:50] And what’s interesting is, and this is where the Americans are going to have to make an interesting decision when they’re regulatory is the world’s going to follow Canada in that regard, [00:32:00] not the state. So in nations that will legalize pharmaceutical first and then go to adult regions like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany.
[00:32:11] So that’ll be a really interesting circumstance. Non-alcoholic. Infused with cannabis. Sure. DDT a full wine that has cannabis in it. Yup. But the two things together, you will not have them go habitated in the same locations, which is good. I could see it going where
[00:32:30]Kellan Finney: I’ve seen a couple of consumption lounge designs out in California here in Denver with the recent passing and like the way the loophole around that is they just literally put two locations next to each other and then they have to bypass between a door.
[00:32:43] And you can’t carry your cannabis, drink to
[00:32:45]Nathan Mison: your bar. You can’t carry alcoholic, drink back, but like you can
[00:32:48]Kellan Finney: go to the consumption lounge, hang out, maybe have a Doobie with your friends and then go back
[00:32:53]Nathan Mison: to the bar where the show
[00:32:55]Kellan Finney: is playing. I’ve seen it approach from that sense. But also I’ve even brought up the [00:33:00] fact that like Lagunitas and some of these other more established breweries have tried, have experimented with putting cannabinoids in their beer and the regulators, the alcohol regulators were like, absolutely not even with CBD, they literally pulled the plug on it
[00:33:13]Nathan Mison: faster than you could even
[00:33:14]Kellan Finney: imagine, and probably has to do with those laws that are those, the
[00:33:18]Nathan Mison: lack of studies that you were just mentioning.
[00:33:20] And even to your point, you’ll never have. That’s an interesting Canadian difference through the states as well, which is a good thing for your tourist market. Because as we know, flower represents one 66% of the cannabis sales currently of current sales. You’ll never have it in Canada. You will never have smoking indoors in Canada where somebody is smoking a pipe, a Hoka joint.
[00:33:44] It just won’t happen. And it shouldn’t it’s better for the
[00:33:48]Kellan Finney: industry as a whole that we’re not encouraging people to inhale things that
[00:33:52]Nathan Mison: are on fire, fundamental
[00:33:53]Kellan Finney: level. This is why I think the hospitality is such a attractive opportunity from a market segment perspective,
[00:33:59]Nathan Mison:[00:34:00] especially steward.
[00:34:00] Under tapped or uncapped demographic, which by the way, is the vast majority of the society that if we could bring them in it’s new market share new opportunity and politically motivated people who could actually represent, Hey, this cannabis thing, isn’t too bad. Maybe you’ve got out of the way, cause I’m not smoking it.
[00:34:21] I would like to go have a drink down at a pub or wherever it is. So that you could actually add that. So I think that’s a really exciting opportunity and I think 2020. Is going to see big advancements on that area in Canada and beyond on the cannabis, tourism and hospitality. And if I can hopefully play a small part in bashing my head against a wall to make through to get that happen I’ll be excited to see what we can achieve on that regard.
[00:34:46]Bryan Fields: I love the consumption lounge idea, and I think from educational side, you bring in consumers were maybe a little more fearful to walk into a normal dispensary and ask those questions. And you take them through the experience. When you go out to California and you have the wine experience and the, they’re [00:35:00] taking you through the grapes and how it was processed and all those beautiful things, maybe learn one or two different things and you feel good.
[00:35:05] You go back home and you brag to your family. I only drank, peanuts from Oregon. You can do the same thing in Canada where you go through that experience, and say, oh I got these great genetics and these strains are world.
[00:35:15]Nathan Mison: Local food, local cannabis, local chefs only in that jurisdiction is a cannabis.
[00:35:22] So we call them farm gates in Canada. They are moving in that regard, which is a similar model to the wineries, but they haven’t bolted on consumption yet. That is probably the come and in, in Canada we have the Niagara region for wine or the the Kalona area, the Okanagan valley for wine, just like you guys have California, Oregon.
[00:35:41] And you’ll see that cannabis opportunities, because again, the benefit is from a policy point of view is, oh, we did that for wine. And it was incredibly successful and bought a ton of tourists here with more money. I understand that parallel. So it’s easier for the politician or the policy maker [00:36:00] to see that and advance that.
[00:36:01] Cause to get us further to that, the more that we can find. Parallels to get the cannabis sector further ahead, the better, because that’s how we actually advanced the cause. And considering this is the third year of the cannabis act in Canada, October 17th, 2021 was the third year. And it has embedded in the act, something that was in hindsight, incredibly intelligent, which was a full legislative review of the act.
[00:36:27] We can actually advocate for the change that we want to actually lessen. Some of that stringent onus that we started with, that we talked about earlier, but we can start having conversations about Hey, can we do infuse restaurants with a dosing station or the creation of a cannabis chef or a cannabis mixologist.
[00:36:46] Now the act is open. Can we push that? We can get into that point of view. And that’s a really exciting opportunity for us to see regulatory change to get us to that environment. So it’s going to be a big year,
[00:36:58]Bryan Fields: so I want to slightly switch [00:37:00] gears on the topic standpoint. Canada’s perception of us and how they’re handling the process or the rollout of
[00:37:08]Nathan Mison: cannabis.
[00:37:08] That’s a great question. So Canadian license holders, which are the cultivators are pleased for the love of God, hurry up and federally do it so that we can push our 1.2 billion, extra grams of cannabis down there into your market. While Oregon, Washington and Colorado are like, please, for the love of God, lets federal legalization happens so that we can push our hundreds of thousands of bounds to the rest of the country.
[00:37:35] That’s an interesting circumstance. We’ll figure out how that plays out in the markets. I think bolting that on to the. Movement as well is a really interesting one because you have potentially cannabis potentially be a part of the U S MCA negotiations in the future. So you have a north American purview.
[00:37:54] Hell. Even if we just start at hemp, which we’ve approved across, now you have a north American CBD[00:38:00] and non-psychoactive cannabinoid market. That’s a really interesting point of view. I think Canadian companies and regulators have started to lose faith that federal legalization is imminent. I think, the political discourse in the states is pretty fragmented.
[00:38:16] So Canadians are looking at other jurisdictions and I say this a lot on conversations with the states and I feel bad cause I feel like I’m always like the negative Nancy of opportunity for Americans. But the fact that there’s going to be a worldwide standard. For cannabis, it probably based around EU GMP production because of the size of the European market and because the federal government isn’t involved in that conversation, it could potentially lock Canadian or American cannabis in America.
[00:38:49] Canada is starting to look at Germany, France, Europe, as a significant place to divert their attention to because the Americans [00:39:00] are trapped in their own border, but there, so I think that’s a really well, so again, it’s that Germany. They do because because we legalize the same way because it’s medicinal first.
[00:39:16] So it’s pharmaceutical grade based on EU GMP standards of production. And because the states hasn’t legalized in the same manner would that same kind of regulatory environment. And the benefit is that’s medicinal to medicinal, not recreational to recreational. So you can have medicinal products that is pharmaceutical grade flow between countries of which there’s potentially 58 around the world that are going through that process while the states is trying to figure out what it is.
[00:39:49] So you’re going to see much more attention from Americans are from Canadians regulators and. Companies to those jurisdictions, I will flag one, just one quick thing for an [00:40:00] interesting point of view. So Canada has had a fairly protectionist experience when it comes to cannabis domestic supply from outside sources to the point where Jamaica and Columbia has threatened the Canadian domestic market with protectionism at the WTO for for not fulfilling its world international treaty obligations between nations.
[00:40:22] So that is actually starting to pop off, which is going to be a really interesting thing to watch when it comes to domestic or international flow of cannabis. Because could you imagine the world trade organization leaning in on trade agreements for cannabis and the states as an asphalt, that, that table, that’s a weird thing to happen.
[00:40:40] So there’s some really interesting stuff internationally. And the states being where they’re at is really hurting their commercialization opportunities. I
[00:40:48]Kellan Finney: just have one quick question. What does the U S MCA, what does that acronym that you threw in there for our
[00:40:52]Nathan Mison: listeners United States, Mexico, Canada agreement.
[00:40:55] That’s not as sexy as it was when it was called NAFTA. That is the new NAFTA. They didn’t [00:41:00] like the name NAFTA because the feedback was us have to be in front of the other countries when they renamed it. So I literally, that was the reason for it. So it is now the United States, Mexico Canadian agreement.
[00:41:12] That is the new year for NAFTA. It’s
[00:41:14]Bryan Fields: good that we didn’t let our ego get in the way when we were naming an agreement. Being left out of those sorts of like conversations, just because we can’t get our act together is so complicated because like you were saying, Nathan, like here in the states, we’re, it’s a state, it’s a state led story.
[00:41:29] And what we don’t have as a federal level is a somewhat of an understanding of a plan moving forward. Or at least that there is, it doesn’t seem like there’s a clear one. When Canada’s looking to, let’s say, expand their operations and they’re limited with which direction they can go. They can either be passive and wait for the U S which is challenging, or they can take that to Europe.
[00:41:46] It’s a bad sign for us because there’s good opportunities as well. But from an exposure standpoint, right? The economies of scale, just based on the sheer location, that’s gotta be another layer of hurdle that the U S operators is going to fall before. [00:42:00]
[00:42:00]Nathan Mison: Yeah, for sure. I completely agree. And, but I think, America will do what America has always done very well and better than most other nations on.
[00:42:09] Build great brands and have great access to capital. So when they do come to market, it’ll be like gobble, right? You’ll have foreign entrance into those markets by acquiring other nations. They, especially, because when you go through federal legalization, you can see some of the bigs who are listed financially on large stock exchange, where they can’t get involved with cannabis because they would avail themselves off of the proceeds of crime.
[00:42:37] Move off the sideline. The other one too, that I think is under talked about, is family trusts that have vice clauses in them. You have big hedge funds and big family trusts who are sitting on the sidelines, but not watching the cannabis sector because they’re not allowed to, because it is a vice because it is not legal.
[00:42:53] I think when the, when that light turns it’ll be just acquisition, like how look [00:43:00] cookies just opened a location this week in Spain. So you’re already seeing brands move in a true way that Americans are great at Americans build better brands than almost any other nation on earth. So you’ll export brands.
[00:43:15] You’ll figure out how to work in that jurisdiction. And then you’ll acquire those domestic companies when the bandaid is ripped off or get put on that analogy is a weird one. But yeah, however that would work. It’d be a
[00:43:26]Bryan Fields: wild time when that goes down.
[00:43:29]Nathan Mison: It will be very, it’ll be very interesting because all of the money who’s been sitting on the side, we’ll just push.
[00:43:37] And the interesting thing that when you have all the money sitting on the outside is you don’t have all the places to put it. So the valuations and the stupidity that are going to come on, the other side of that is going to be pretty problematic because Canada can show you when you have speculated companies.
[00:43:56] The problem is when you get high valuation, You have to show [00:44:00] profitability and sustainability at a certain point. Then when those come crashing down together, it’s not always a good thing. So that’ll be an interesting thing to see when when that happens. And I look forward to enjoying the ride and crying on the way down.
[00:44:12]Bryan Fields: What is one idea or concept about Canadian cannabis policy that Americans wouldn’t know?
[00:44:19]Nathan Mison: That the provincial governments in almost every jurisdiction is the only wholesaler and supplier for retail. So you only have one person to buy from in most jurisdictions and in Canada, who is the government who takes money on the front end from the cultivator and the back end from the retailer to the point where that Deloitte report that came out, that we referenced earlier, show $43.5 billion of economic contribution to the Canadian economy since legalization and 15 billion of that went to tax policy.
[00:44:53] Our taxation, that is a big nut. And that’s because the government was smart, depending on [00:45:00] what insider you are and put themselves in. So you can’t go anywhere else. They’ve given themselves government monopoly where they get the set up prices and negotiate the cut on what they’ll buy for. So it’s a pretty tough,
[00:45:13]Bryan Fields: you think that’ll be the same way long-term or you think that eventually the companies will look to push?
[00:45:18]Nathan Mison: No, we’ve been pretty proud that we’ve already seen some significant change. Alberta, the jurisdiction where I live in just close there. Government monopoly e-commerce website. So in the province that I lived in, they were the only e-commerce and delivery website. They’ve now closed that so that private companies can actually have act test that e-commerce and delivery.
[00:45:38] So I think there will continue to be changes. And it’s not like the government can’t get its touch and get out of the business of being a wholesaler and distributor without taking the capital cost of it. We have lots of other sectors that we could probably point to. I dunno, like alcohol that you do the exact same thing in where you still take taxation on the top, but private sector has got to be the [00:46:00] wholesaler and distributor.
[00:46:00] So I think it’ll get there, but it made sense when it was easier to give it to citizenry than take it away. So they controlled supply at the begin. And they control the revenue because nobody knew what the hell this was gonna look like. Cause we were the first G 20 country in the world to do it. So it was a safer alternative to tell the citizens you control it.
[00:46:22] Yeah, it makes
[00:46:22]Kellan Finney: sense. Honestly, especially with an emerging market like that. And who knows how police service could have been from a startup company, that’s trying to figure it out on the fly and they don’t have that professionalism that comes with the government organization. I think it’s smart from the beginning and it’s cool that they’re able to change it now.
[00:46:39] Yup.
[00:46:40]Nathan Mison: Yup. Some of us employed are with consulting contract, so that’s also a good thing too.
[00:46:45]Bryan Fields: It probably looks really nice on an Excel sheet. They’re like, see, we’re making twice as much.
[00:46:50]Nathan Mison: Yeah. Yeah. 43.1% is the taxation on cannabis and the province that I live in. How do you displace an illegal market? When the [00:47:00] consumer, without markup at a retail level pays 43.1% before the product is even on the shelf for sale.
[00:47:07] That’s insane. It’s
[00:47:10]Bryan Fields: hard to understand that, like hearing you say that, like you just think about it from like a numerical standpoint, it’s still hard to understand. That’s
[00:47:16]Nathan Mison: crazy. That’s crazy. I I can call her
[00:47:19]Kellan Finney: even here in Colorado, like there’s dispensaries or storefronts that I’ll pay 20, 30% taxes on, but the cannabis is still cheaper now than it was 10 years ago in the legacy market.
[00:47:32] Like
[00:47:32]Nathan Mison: significantly cheaper, like insanely cheaper compared to at least in Colorado, right? Industrial agriculture’s industrial agriculture is a whole hell of a thing, right? Like when you open your and millions of square feet and acres and acres of outdoor grow, you all of a sudden have a cheaper product because now there’s more of it.
[00:47:51] So that’s a good thing for consumers, a bad thing for the growers. So that has to be the counterbalance between the two, but they [00:48:00] don’t have to worry about the
[00:48:00]Kellan Finney: feds rolling in now. That would be the kind of point, I guess
[00:48:05]Nathan Mison: they’re not going to go. I think that they’re talking 25% taxation at a federal level as well.
[00:48:10] So that’ll be interesting to see how that works out if that bill goes forward. So the taxation policy is going to be very interesting to watch it, the states. And I would recommend that American companies look at Canada cause there’s some really good stats based analysis that we would love to share so that hopefully we can help arm you with some of that policy and research to advocate for better decision making.
[00:48:31] So one of the things that you asked, what people can know about the Canadian space, that American companies don’t. We’ve done a lot of this. Give us a call because we’d love to share with you so that we can make better policies and we hopefully prevent you from falling on your face as it really hurts to fall on your face and then step up and try and fix it.
[00:48:50] So if we can work together to create a better example of what a cannabis market can be Canadian companies are happy to share that a lesson with with American compatriots
[00:48:59]Bryan Fields: since you’ve been in the [00:49:00] cannabinoid industry, what has been the biggest misconception?
[00:49:03]Nathan Mison: That’s a really interesting conversation.
[00:49:04] So I, that I didn’t support. Because I work for a licensed producer or a retailer that was seen as like one of the real white collar corporate cannabis companies that was so out in front and significant development people didn’t see that we were advocating for the entire sector. They saw that we were just advocating for better fallacies for for fire and flower and for corporate cannabis and not understanding that, to build a better sector that displaces the elect the illegal.
[00:49:35] I was advocating for as many of legacy people to come into the market as easy as possible because we want their better cannabis and you’re going to displace the elicit sector by bringing people in as quick as possible and easy as possible. And I think that was a real challenge that I got beaten up a whole bunch from people who thought, I wasn’t supportive of the whole sector.
[00:49:55] It was just the big corporate. And that was not the case [00:50:00] as I’m sure, there can be some vitriol from certain segments these days on social media and stuff like that. You could get beat up pretty good about it, but, considering argue with politicians for a living, I’m pretty lucky to have thick skin.
[00:50:11] So I only cry inside, not on the outside. That’s the only thing that matters. Yeah.
[00:50:17]Bryan Fields: If you can set up your experience in the cannabinoid space, any main takeaway or lesson learned to pass on the next generation?
[00:50:26]Nathan Mison: It’s an economic opportunity that is unfettered. My kids are going to grow up in a world where cannabis is going to be larger than alcohol and accepted by more people and utilize more diversity.
[00:50:40] Hurry up and get us there instead of fighting for beliefs from 50 years ago, that would be one of the things I would love to see. Okay. That’s well said.
[00:50:50]Bryan Fields: All right, prediction time. I wrote this one on the fly, so I apologize for mumbling it. How do we get the NAFTA [00:51:00] or formerly known NAFTA agreement to allow for cannabis sales across us, Canada and Mexico.
[00:51:07] And does it need federal legalization to occur?
[00:51:12]Nathan Mison: Great question. I am very involved with the Canadian chamber of commerce. I believe that the chambers of commerce, because they represent everybody in the supply chain, cultivators retailers and ciliary businesses is a great way to do it. I believe that the political relationships that he have with traditional economic actors representing it towards politicians who are thinking that it’s just a cannabis company coming in there and whining for better policy that they can take advantage of to the point of the past.
[00:51:41] And I would start with non-psychoactive cannabinoids, like CBD CBN, THC, because they’re already approved in all three locations. So start there and then let’s work to a neighbor is when. The next USM CA review is in 2023. Let’s roll up our sleeves and let’s get her done, right? [00:52:00] Let’s have a north American perspective.
[00:52:02] It’s on the books. You pass the farming act. We have it federally legislated and the Mexicans federally legislated. Have you heard one person talk about it? Why not? Why not? It’s just a simple question to ask. So if we put it out there, maybe we can force it to actually be a part of the conversation and from a political politician point of view, it’s an agricultural product, not an, a neighborhood.
[00:52:26] So maybe they feel safer doing it.
[00:52:28]Bryan Fields: Convinced governor Ricketts county.
[00:52:30]Kellan Finney: First we did pass the farm bill, but that did not seem to do much for CBD as far as rescheduling it or saying it’s safe or really anything it’s still in that gray area. You know what I mean? So
[00:52:42]Nathan Mison: what,
[00:52:42]Kellan Finney: we should probably figure out what we’re going to do with CBD first, and then we can move forward, but I think it does require federal legalization, honestly, at least on the U S as part, because.
[00:52:52]Nathan Mison: U S is going to just look like an outlier
[00:52:54]Kellan Finney: sitting on a table with two countries that have robust established matured [00:53:00] markets, where even when we talk about representatives, not knowing that they’re still illegal the products on the market.
[00:53:06] I can’t even imagine the ignorance that the U S representatives approach that conversation with never even having a real marketplace to, to have cannabis sales from a federal perspective. You know what I mean? And so I don’t think there is a conversation. I think the point is moot
[00:53:23]Nathan Mison: or it’s like this.
[00:53:25] Yes. Buyers and cover my eyes. So please go ahead and talk about it. Like I, I think that’s probably where that, but like jury. Is going through adult use recreation, France is going throughout and use recreation. Like these are not small other nations. These are traditional American allies who are going through that process and you’re surrounded on both borders.
[00:53:49] So it has to get there where you’re not taking a political risk anymore, and it’s a huge economic opportunity. So I think it’ll when the light [00:54:00] bulb turns, it’ll go very quickly. The question is what is the policy that you get that you have to live within? Because I think when you rush the consequences of rushing are more scary than taking the time.
[00:54:11] So that would be the one thing that I would worry about when America turns that light our, when flips that switch, what the policy will come out the other side, because the cannabis sector might advocate for the next five to 10 years, the roll back, some of the things that were embedded in the legislation during the.
[00:54:29] I agree with what you
[00:54:30]Kellan Finney: said, except the only caveat is you do have to do something. We can’t just hang out with your patient.
[00:54:37]Nathan Mison: Twenty-five years. Eventually have to take a step forward. We can’t just talk about, and there are five bills in both houses there isn’t stuff to talk about. You know what I mean?
[00:54:49] Like there’s and I think it’s isn’t the majority of American states are
[00:54:54]Bryan Fields: 63% or 68. I think it was 68.
[00:54:58]Nathan Mison: And by the way, this is the [00:55:00] most popular public policy position in the United States for the citizenry is cannabis legalization at a certain time, maybe a politician is going to be like, wait a second.
[00:55:10] So 70% of people like this, why aren’t I jumping on that? Cause I like 70% of American voting for me. So I think, sometime hopefully we’ll combine that political opportunism with common sense policy make,
[00:55:23]Bryan Fields: it seems like a layup, right? Just to think about that. Statistical standpoint, you got to feel pretty good going in knowing seven out of 10, like it, I’m not going to feel good laying here, but what I never thought about until you said it, Nathan was the international peer pressure, that kind of goes into it, right?
[00:55:37] Because if the U S is being left out of these conversations, because we can’t get our act together, besides the economic standpoint that we’ll miss out on, God knows how much money, but like it’s also an embarrassment as someone who takes themselves as like the world leader, we need to be at the forefront of this.
[00:55:51] And if we’re sitting back because whoa, we haven’t gotten our act together, it’s going to be embarrassing. So I wonder if the cabinet or the political leaders help push that a little [00:56:00] faster to be like, Hey, like these conversations are happening with, or without us, we need to do something first.
[00:56:05] So we can partake in these conversations because we would like to influence how that arrangement goes. And that might expat the timeline a little differently than I ever thought.
[00:56:14]Nathan Mison: You’re on.
[00:56:15] You’re closer aligned with Russia. and China than you are with Germany, France, Mexico, and Canada.
[00:56:22] Oh my God. Just to throw it out there.
[00:56:25] Oh my
[00:56:26]Bryan Fields: God. If I want to stinks that one hurts, throw it out there. That one hurts. That one really hurts off the clip that, and maybe remove it. Cause that one’s a little too painful for some of our listeners.
[00:56:36]Kellan Finney: Maybe our strategy is just let Mexico legalize it, then they can grow it all. And then we’ll just import
[00:56:41]Nathan Mison: it somewhere.
[00:56:44] Nancy is spinning in her grave. So I’m like, oh my God, it’s terrible. That’s so terrible. That will help our trade deficit. It’s true. I do have to run. I am really sorry. I would really love to carry the conversation that I have to jump to another one. [00:57:00] Thanks so much for your time, Nathan. Appreciate it. No problem. [00:57:02] It was a real pleasure. I look forward to having it again, guys. Absolutely talk soon. Thanks. Be well.
